Ask Thomas Mitchell: How Do I Protect Myself from Nursing Homes Taking all My Money?
Video Summary
Good afternoon! My name is Tom Mitchell. I’m one of the partners at Waller
& Mitchell. We’re located in beautiful downtown New Port Richey, and I’m an
Elder law attorney.
One of the things that I frequently get asked to do is to help people who have a senior family member who has declined in either mental or physical health and has to go into a nursing home, and the family wants to know, is there any way we can preserve some or as much of their assets as we can and still have them go into the nursing home and be taken care of properly?
And, in fact, there is a Federal/State program that provides the nursing home care for individuals who are indigent. It’s called Medicaid, the Institutional Care Program.
Being a welfare-style program, it does have asset and income limitations. For a single person the asset limit is $2,000.00. And for a married couple the asset limit is $120,000.00. For the income limit for a single person who is in a nursing home it’s approximately $2,250.00. For the individual in a married situation and the individual is living at home, they can have as much income as they want.
And so there are some assets that are not counted. The house is not counted. A car is not counted. Retirement accounts are not counted. So there are some things that we can do, however, to help transfer the other assets that are accounted against Medicaid eligibility.
The only thing that you can’t do is you can’t give it away. If you give the money to the kids or the grand-kids then the person going in the nursing home will be disqualified for Medicaid eligibility for a period of time that is related directly to the amount of money that was given away.
So if you want to know how to do any of these things, go ahead and give us a call. I’m Tom Mitchell at Waller & Mitchell. We’re at 5332 Main Street in New Port Richey.
Thanks!
- Published in Medicaid Planning, Videos
How Much are Estate Taxes in Florida?
Video Summary
Hi! I’m Chip Waller. How much are estate taxes in Florida?
Well, you’re looking at Santa here, there are no estate taxes in the State of Florida so you can leave an unlimited amount to whoever you like and there are no estate taxes.
How about the Federal government? Well, the recent tax law provides that you can leave up to over $5,000,000.00 and there are no estate taxes that are due to the Federal government.
If you are married you can leave an unlimited amount to your spouse. And between the two of you, you can leave upwards to $10,000,000.00 jointly. That takes some – a little bit of planning. But, unfortunately, for me, I haven’t happened to have too many clients that have over $5,000,000.00 or even have the $5,000,000.00 to worry about the estate taxes.
Now, if you own real estate outside the State of Florida there may be estate taxes that are owed to another state where the decedent owned real estate, such as North Carolina, New York or whatever other state other than Florida.
But the good news is, Florida does not have an estate tax.
So, if you have some questions about an estate or want to do some estate planning, or have an estate to be administered, give me a call at 727-847-2288.
Thank you!
If I Inherit Money, Do I Have to Pay Tax on the Money?
Video Summary
Hi! I’m Chip Waller. The question is, do I have to pay inheritance tax on any money that I receive from an estate?
The answer is no. Estate taxes are paid by the estate, so you may be paying them indirectly because it may reduce the amount of the monies that you received as a result of paying an estate tax.
I am not aware, although cannot say conclusively, as to having no inheritance tax in any state. But in Florida there is no inheritance tax and, also, there are no estate taxes. So as far as I know that, well, in fact, there are no inheritance taxes if you live here in Florida that you have to pay.
So if you have any more questions about taxes and estates, well, give me a call at 727-847-2288.
Thank you!
Does a Designated Trustee Need to Hire a Lawyer?
Video Summary
Hi! I’m Chip Waller. Does a designated trustee need to hire a lawyer to administer a Trust?
Usually the designated trustee is a successor to a decedent. So the answer is, I suggest that you contact an attorney, like me, and find out what your duties and responsibilities are as a successor trustee as well as can you be held liable if you don’t follow the Florida statute for the Florida Trust Code.
Some of the things that you need to do as a successor trustee is obtain a Federal Identification Number because you’re dealing with monies that are not yours, and you don’t want to have to report any income under your Social Security number because it’s not your money or your income. And you need to file what they call a Fiduciary Tax Return, a 1041.
Next as a successor trustee you’re required to send a copy of the Trust to all the beneficiaries. And that’s sometimes not what anybody wants to know about, but particularly if there’s a distribution or if you’re supposed to pay income for life to someone. But everyone who is a beneficiary under the Trust is to get a copy of the Trust document.
You also usually have many questions about, well, should I pay all the creditors? Well, and now can I – when can I distribute all this money and not be responsible for the creditors’ claims? That’s usually a fairly tough question.
And one of the other responsibilities that you have, and potential liability for, is doing an accounting. So you initially have to prepare an inventory and send out, to all the beneficiaries, an inventory of all the assets.
Once they get that, well then they’re entitled to an annual accounting which sets forth how much income and what transaction took place. And if you fail to do that, you have liability for many, many, many years to come and have potential liability.
So, as my recommendation, that before – if you’re designated as a trustee of a Trust, that you consult with an attorney to find out what your duties, responsibilities and liabilities are as far as serving as a successor trustee, and decide if you want to undertake those responsibilities and potential liability.
If you have any questions give me a call at 727-847-2288. Thank you!